Pins for holding name plates on - what is their correct name?

[Mayhem]

I need to source some of the small pins that are used to attach name plates to machinery. However, I cannot recall their correct name. The ones I am replacing are 0.069" dia. 0.175" long and have a domed head.

Perhaps this is why people just mask them up and paint around them!

can anyone tell me their correct name?

[Highpower]

Screw nails or "Type U" drive screws.

[Bill Gruby]

Yup, Willie nailed it (pun intended) We go strictly by Drive Screws.

"Billy G"

[Mayhem]

Thanks! searching with the correct name makes a big difference!

[dallen]

(11-30-2012, 09:17 PM)Mayhem Wrote: I need to source some of the small pins that are used to attach name platws to machinery. However, I cannot recall their correct name. The ones I am replacing are 0.069" dia. 0.175" long and have a domed head.

Perhaps this is why people just mask them up and paint around them!

can anyone tell me their correct name?

I think I have some that size not sure, will have to dig thru the cave see if I can find em. they may be a bit bigger not sure.

[Mayhem]

$3.67 for a pack of 100 from McMaster-Carr (Size 2, 3/16" Length).

I screwed up when typing in the size. It measures as .096" diameter (not .069").

[sasquatch]

Seeing the post , i couldn't remember the name either, so i now know.

[Mayhem]

OK, so the diameter on these are listed as 0.1000". How much smaller should I drill the hole? Is a #40 drill (0.0980") going to be too tight? Either side is 0.0960" and 0.0995"

This is to reattach the name plates on my mill, so it will be going into cast aluminium on some parts and cast iron on others. I'll mic the drive screws before I start drilling, just to make sure they are 0.1000"

[arvidj]

(01-03-2013, 07:31 AM)Mayhem Wrote: OK, so the diameter on these are listed as 0.1000". How much smaller should I drill the hole? Is a #40 drill (0.0980") going to be too tight? Either side is 0.0960" and 0.0995"

This is to reattach the name plates on my mill, so it will be going into cast aluminium on some parts and cast iron on others. I'll mic the drive screws before I start drilling, just to make sure they are 0.1000"

If no one has a 'scientific answer" maybe you could drill a hole of each size is some scrap of a similar material and see how the hammer feels as you drive them in. My not-based-on-anything-scientific thought would be that there would be a difference in the 'correct' size for the dissimilar materials, with the aluminum liking a slightly smaller hole.

And just for completeness, the 2.5mm drill is 0.0994.

Ok, you made me try Google. Looks like you would have been way off with either of them. It calls for a #44 hole.

http://www.smithfast.com/udrivescrew.html

But I still think a couple of trials to see what the hammer tells you would be a good idea.

[PixMan]

There should be a short pilot diameter at the very end of the drive screws, so just measure that and use a driil that's about .002" (0.05mm) larger. If there's no pilot diameter, try using a caliper to measure the root diameter below the "flutes" of the drive screw.

Also, when you drive them in, try to preserve the round head to keep them pretty. You can do this by measuring the radius of the head, then use a matching ball mill's tip to make a divot in the end of a soft steel punch.